Finding a job where you feel you belong might be a journey, but it is a journey worth taking.

Bronwyn Lankin and Freddy Peipei know this from their own experience. Now they are helping others to participate in activities, learn skills and find employment.

Both Bronwyn and Freddy are former Community Development Programme (CDP) participants from the community of Ntaria, also known as Hermannsburg 130 kilometres west of Alice Springs. The local Indigenous CDP provider, Tjuwanpa Outstation Resource Centre Aboriginal Corporation, provides CDP services to Ntaria and its 42 outstations.

During a visit to the Tjuwanpa CDP Women’s Work Shed for a Christmas party, Bronwyn Lankin found herself interested in what the Women’s Work Shed activity could offer to the women in her community.

Learning the skills required to work in the shed, Bronwyn found she could then help other women in the activity to create furniture for the community. Her dedication to the safety of the work area led to her working on White Card training and Safe Equipment Procedure Panels, along with expanding her general woodworking skills.

Bronwyn is now employed by the Tjuwanpa Outstation Resource Centre Aboriginal Corporation as an Assistant Supervisor in the Women’s Work Shed. She is proud of her achievement so far.

“The CDP has helped me learn about working in a team environment, about routine and about work structures. It feels good working together with other people in the community to achieve good things,” Bronwyn says.

Tjuwanpa CDP Women’s Work Shed Supervisor, Robyn Ellis, adds: “We know that CDP participants such as Bronwyn want to be active, and to know they are contributing back to their communities. To be working makes them feel prouder, stronger, and stand taller.”

Freddy Peipei, originally from Areyonga south-west of Ntaria, has also seen how learning a range of new skills through the CDP can lead to employment. Freddy has found his participation led him to be driven to achieve more and to give back to his community.

“I wanted to be the best I could, and I wanted to pass on all that I had learned, to encourage others to do as well as they could too,” Freddy says.

Now working for the Tjuwanpa Outstation Resource Centre Aboriginal Corporation in cemetery restoration, Freddy values the opportunity to show respect for his community and guide current CDP participants towards future employment.

“This job gives me purpose, and it helps me support my family. What I do is important to the community, so it makes me proud that we are doing well,” Freddy says.